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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Yet another additional to my sewing room! This time I used a tutorial, but got lazy. I took the idea, and the measurements of the apron and went on instinct. I'm sure it would have turned out much better if I read the directions, but I was challenging myself. Or was I lazy? hmmm... anyway, I changed things up a bit. I didn't do patchwork, although I LOVE the one in the tutorial. Mostly because I didn't have a selection of scraps that I liked.

If you look closely, there is a small detail that I experimented with. I used the star stitch to create a simple pattern. In hindsight I'd use a contrasting color, but I wasn't as brave when I started. This is a good alternative to creating detail if you aren't patchworking your apron. If you click on the image you can get a closer look.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

In an attempt to beautiful my not so beautiful sewing room, I wanted to add in more of the butterfly fabric from the sewing machine cover.

My first project I created myself, not too hard, but I am willing to make a tutorial with measurements if there is interest. Please comment if you'd like me to create a picture tutorial for what I'm calling the "Jelly Skirt." I wanted to dress up a Smuckers Jelly jar to hold my craft supplies. I used elastic around the top. Here's how it turned out.

I'm using an old workbench that was left by the previous home owner for my cutting table. It is truly beat up and ugly. I painted it brown, but I wanted to create a curtain for the back to add color. I also wanted it to be a visual barrier to create definition between the sewing room and laundry room. It's nothing fancy, just an idea if you need to do the same!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Sew this one is from an actual tutorial from a book, the Sew Everything Workshop. I recently set up my sewing room in our unfinished basement, so I wanted to brighten the area as well as keep my machine from getting dusty. It was fun, and it's the first time I used bias tape. There are all sorts of tutorials out there, I just happened to use the one in the book. I did add a handle to the top, which wasn't in the pattern.

I drew my own pattern for the butterfly, actually I just drew half of a butterfly, turned it over and traced it again so I got an even image. This was an easy project and is a huge improvement over the lame plastic one that came with my machine.

Friday, March 6, 2009

This tote project was intimidating, but I am so happy with how it turned out! My thanks go out to Mama's Pocketbook where I got the free pattern & tutorial.

I amended the tutorial a bit and added a zipper pocket on the inside as well as a cell phone/PDA holder. The outside of my tote as 2 lined pockets. I used a thicker fabric, it will wear better over time.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

My son Wubby loves to "baby" his bear. This is the stuffed animal he sleeps with, we creatively named him "Bear". Wubby is always covering him with blankets and putting him to bed. So with some scraps, I threw this together. I didn't make a tutorial, the concepts are pretty basic. I used 2 colors of fleece and essentially made a sleeping bag with attached pillow. The bear pattern on the front is a reverse applique (see monsters post). I found the image by just searching on the web.

Monday, March 2, 2009

This one was an undertaking for me. My first zipper, first snap and first patchwork really. This tutorial is great, but I made some amendments to it. I added a zippered coin pocket with a bill pocket behind instead of the extra credit card slots.

A few notes if you're following the tutorial: I cut 10 strips 1.75" wide (but this depends on your seam allowance). Fabric Ax3, Bx2, Cx2, Dx3.

I used this zipper demo to learn, but there are lots of them out there.

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